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Archive for July, 2010

Rockers

Posted in Naish, tagged , , on July 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It seems that since the early days of Boy Scout camps, there has been a need to recognize those campers that return for year after year. In some of the early felt camp patches there are patches that state, 1st year camper, 2nd year camper, 3rd year camper, or something similar. An alternative, and the system used for Camp Naish, is the rocker. There are five eras of rockers. The first is a chevron-type that typically goes with the Daniel Boone or Frontiersman camp patch. The chevron is a red bar that went below the camp patch. These were used from around 1941-1944.

 db-con-chevron

 A camper from this time period indicated that there was also a white version of this chevron that was used for a winter camping event held at Camp Naish around 1941 or 1942.  Does anyone have additional information about this event?

The next type is the red and green twill variety. These were used from 1945-1950 with the early white twill versions of the Camp Naish patch.

Following that is the white and red twill variety. These were used from 1951-1962 An were used with later versions of the white twill of the Camp Naish patch.

Up next is the green and red twill. These were used from 1963-1977 with the green twill versions of the Camp Naish patch.

The current era is white and red twill again. These have been used since 1978.
These have a more uniform font than the previous white and red twill versions and typically have plastic backing.

Camp Naish is not the only Camp to use the rockers, there are many other versions out there with alternate color schemes. Also, there have been other special-issue rockers for Camp Naish, including outpost versions, that I’ll post about later.

Keep on rockin’.

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Heart of America Council – 2010 Jamboree Issues

Posted in Heart of America Council, Jamboree, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on July 20, 2010|

Thanks to my neighbor across the street, Todd, I was able to pick up one of the new 2-piece sets issued by Heart of America Council to commemorate the 2010 National Jamboree which kicks off on July 24.  Here’s a scan of the patch:

There are also CSPs issued by the council and a 100th Anniversary flap issued by Tamegonit Lodge.  I’ll post scans of those as well, once I track them down.

UPDATE – Thanks to reader, Matt Perryn, I have scans of the 100th Anniversary CSPs and JSPs.  There are seven total from Heart of America Council:

Black Border - Standard 100th Anniversary CSP

Blue Border - Jamboree Troop 1131

Orange Border - Jamboree Troop 1132

Green Border - Jamboree Troop 1133

Red Border - Jamboree Troop 1134

Silver Border - Jamboree Staff

Gold Border - Council VIP

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Ernst Training Area

Posted in Old Camps, tagged , , , , on July 20, 2010| 1 Comment »

This week we stray to the east, to what is now Powell Gardens. As you may know, Powell Gardens, the very popular botanical garden, southeast of Kansas City, was previously a Boy Scout Camp. The history web page for the gardens states, “Mr. Powell donated the 640-acre farm to the Kansas City Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, who used it as a regional camp until 1984,” at which time Heart of America Council disposed of the property.

In reading, Trail to Eagle: Six Decades of Scouting in Kansas City, there is reference to Camp Powell being split into two sections: one for district and unit events and one for training. The book states that Ernst Training Area (ETA) was located near the largest lake. Camp Powell was used for training activities for youth and adults. In the early 1980s the Brownsea leadership camp was held at Camp Powell.

Following are some scans of patches that say “ETA”, both participant and staff and also a conservation patch, from a local collection:


Participant


Conservation


Staff

Did anyone attend training at the Ernst training area? Does anyone recognize the patches?

To close, here are three Camp Powell patches:


Kansas City Area Council-era

No council name


Heart of America Council-era

In response to this post, reader Matt Perryn sent the following scan of a KCAC-era Powell Scout Reservation Patch on white twill.  Compare to the first Powell patch above which has an off white twill background.  Thanks, Matt!

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The Camp That Almost Was…Camp George Algire

Posted in Old Camps, tagged , on July 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

My Boy Scout career began with Troop 86 in Olathe, Kansas. Although I don’t attend any meetings these days, my scouting registration is still through the troop. We celebrated our 75th anniversary in 2005 and as part of the celebration a book was put together about the history of the troop, aptly titled, “Troop 86 History.”

The book includes the text from several newspaper articles recounting the beginnings of scouting in Olathe. One article from The Olathe Mirror dated July 24, 1930 caught my attention. It reads:

Raise Funds for Boy Scouts
“Camp George” Algire located West of Olathe
Permanent Cabins to be Erected

…”Camp George Algire” is a beautiful plat of 40 acres situated on the Creek (Cedar Creek) 4 1/2 miles west of Olathe on the newly chatted road. F.W. Sickles who constructed a new bridge at this point reports a stream of water was encountered 8 feet below the surface…This means that the swimming pool which is to be built will have an abundant flow of fresh, cool, water at all times. Permanent cabins are to be built for the three Olathe troops and the Deaf School. The camp is to be thrown open for the use of all Boy Scout Troops in Johnson County and it is certain we will have boys in camp at all times during the camping season.

Sounds promising, right? Well, sadly the book states that although several campouts were held on the land, a few months later the property was sold and no further plans were carried out.

I did a little searching and found the location of the camp. The Johnson County Historical Society has digitized old atlases of the county. Here is a view of the general area mentioned in the article.


Johnson County Atlas, 1922

The northeast portion of section 31 is labeled Willard Algire. The northern boundary is 135th Street or Santa Fe Street in Olathe. This is also known as Prairie Center Road. It is not clear weather Willard was George’s father or if the “W” in G.W. Algire stands for “Willard”. The atlas also indicates that the property is 160 acres, while the camp is listed as 40 acres. A portion of the property may have been sold between 1922 (date of the atlas) and 1930 (date of the article).

Here’s the location of the property from Google Maps:

Of particular interest to me is that house where I grew up in Olathe is a little less than three miles from Camp George Algire.

This begs the question, are there more Boy Scout Camps in the Kansas City area that were short lived?

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Camp Naish Anniversary Issues

Posted in Naish, tagged , , on July 6, 2010| 2 Comments »

Through the years Camp Naish anniversaries have been celebrated with special events and patches. I was on the 75th Camp Naish Anniversary committee in 2001, helping organize the memorabilia display in the South Camp dining hall. Here’s a look at some of the special issues used to honor the history of Camp Naish:

1986 60th Anniversary

1991 65th Anniversary

1996 70th Anniversary (based on the Packard High Adventure Base Patch)

2001 75th Anniversary

2001 75th Anniversary Take Two

Note: The first batch came back with the wrong Indian head artwork and were replaced with this version. Here’s the letter explaining what happeded:


Click for a Larger Version of the Letter

2001 75th Anniversary Neckerchief for former staff members

There was also another special issue 75th Anniversary patch for the organizing committee that I will post about soon.

Was there an 80th Anniversary patch for 2006?

Am I forgetting any others?

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